Source:
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC)
International efforts have failed to reduce the scale of internal displacement caused by conflict. According to Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre’s report, an estimated 26 million people were still displaced within their countries, the same number as in 2007 and the highest since the early 1990s. July 2009.
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The term "internally displaced persons" (IDPs) refers to persons who have been forced or obliged to flee their homes or places of habitual residence, but unlike refugees, remain within state borders. This crucial difference means they do not enjoy the same protection under international law as those with refugee status recieve, and in the past have received less attention from the international community as a group (official statitstics on their numbers globally only began in 1982). Unlike refugees, there is no specifically-mandated body to provide assistance to IDPs. However, the UN has begun to address these issues.

According to figures from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, in 2005, of the estimated 25 million IDPs, there were over 5 million located in Sudan and up to 3.7 million in Colombia. Globally, 70 - 80% of IPDs are women and children. However, statistics on IDPs are still a controversial issue, and there is as yet no universal agreement.

One of the reasons explaining the increase in this group of people and the parallel decrease in the number of refugees (approximately 9.2 million registered in 2006) has been the shift from conflicts between states, to a pattern of more internal strife and civil wars. Yet the causes for the displacement and the subsequent obstacles which IDPs face are much the same as those which relate to refugees. The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (see last paragraph) cites the most common causes for displacement as being "a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalised violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters." (Introduction, para. 2) Thousands of people are also recognised as being internally displaced each year due to major development projects(1).

Like refugees, the dispacement undergone makes IDPs particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses and neglect. However, those recognized as refugees, having crossed the state border, are generally better assisted than other forced migrants, in that they have a clear legal status and are entitled to the protection of the UNHCR. IDPs, like anyone else, benefit from the same legal protection of international human rights law and, in situations of armed conflict, international humanitarian law (the Geneva Conventions). However, ensuring these rights are secured is often the responsibility of authorities which were responsible for their displacement in the first place, or ones that are unable or unwilling to do so. Here the issue of state sovreignty becomes a problem, and in the past efforts to help certain groups of IDP have been restricted by a lack of security and governments or insurgents preventing access to the these people. In addition, programmes designed to help IDPs can sometimes complicate asylum procedures. (2)

However action is being coordinated in the UN and through other related organisations. The UNHCR report notes that the United Nations is "beginning to make discernible progress toward helping the internally displaced"(3), and in 2005 it was decided that the UN refugee agency would in future take a ‘lead’ role in overseeing the protection and shelter needs of IDPs. The UNHCR currently cares for 5.6 million people in the "IDP" cateogory. Also, in 1998, the "Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement" was presented to the UN Comission on Human Rights by the Comission's representative on IDPs and a team of international legal experts. Officially translated into 40 diferrent languages, the 30 principles set out the rights and guarantees relevant to the protection of IDPs. (see further information, including International Bodies and Individual States responses) Through the UN Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of IDPs and other related groups, increasing work is being done to research the issue of IDPs, to coordinate a global mandate to respond to the situation and to help individual countries to implement the Guiding Principles.

Groups working on the issue

At the request of the United Nations, the Geneva-based IDMC monitors conflict-induced internal displacement worldwide and runs an online database providing comprehensive information and analysis on internal displacement in some 50 countries. The Centre advocates for durable solutions to the plight of the internally displaced in line with international standards. The IDMC also carries out training activities to enhance the capacity of local actors to respond to the needs of internally displaced people (IDPs).

Established in July 2004, the principal objective of the Division is to promote system wide improvements in the response to the needs of the IDPs as well as to provide targeted support to specific country situations.

The Project on Internal Displacement was created to promote a more effective national, regional and international response to the issue globally and to support the work of the Representative of the UN Secretary-General in carrying out the responsibilities of his mandate.

A small and independent group documenting the human rights situation of people in rural Burma. The group works directly with people in their villages, the internally displaced, and newly arrived refugees in neighbouring countries in order to present a firsthand view of what daily life is like under the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) military junta.

Resources

Comprehensive guide to the main debates regarding IDPs, concentrating on conflict-induced internal displacement. While the guide aims to summarise the challenge of internal displacement at a policy level, it also tries to address its social consequences, exploring the realities of many internally displaced persons (IDPs), as well as addressing the issue of whether "IDP" is a useful or harmful label. October 2005

A searchable database where articles relating to IDPs can be found. See also the FMO Digital Library, a tool to find links (with descriptions) to forced migration information resources on the Internet.

Country specific reports

Forced internal displacements are an acute and sensitive issue in Kenya. According to the more recent statistics provided by United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there are around 380,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Kenya. This places the country at the 7th rank in Africa in terms of numbers of IDPs. May 2007.

Displaced communities in Colombia are fleeing their original land only to encounter more intimidation, lack of running water and food and schooling fees that parents cannot afford to pay. The government still continues to provide little, if any, assistance. March 2006

This report seeks to present a diagnostic of the current situation of the displaced population: the causes of displacement, the municipalities from which populations have been expelled, those that receive displaced people, and the demographic structure of the population affected by this phenomena. It also attempts to determine the gender of the head of displaced households, as well as the socio-economic conditions encountered by women who head these families. June 2003

Following the Zimbabwean government's evictions campaign, this report presents the findings from HRW´s investigations in the country. It documents the Zimbabwean government's denial of assistance and protection to hundreds of thousands of the internally displaced and further examines the role of international agencies, and in particular the U.N. country team, in addressing the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe. Dec 2005 (pdf format)

Official documents

13-page booklet outlining 30 principles, in line with international human rights and humanitarian law, for governments and humanitarian organizations to help the displaced. Updated Sep 2004 (pdf format)

Report of the Representative of the Secretary-General on IDPs on the first full year of his mandate. The report considers his dialogue with Governments over the last year, efforts to mainstream the human rights of internally displaced persons into all parts of the United Nations system and his promotion of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. Jan 2006 (pdf format)

Articles and publications on the issue

International efforts have failed to reduce the scale of internal displacement caused by conflict. According to Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre’s report, an estimated 26 million people were still displaced within their countries, the same number as in 2007 and the highest since the early 1990s. May 2009.

Bahame Tom Mukirya Nyanduga, commissioner responsible for upholding the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ rights talks to Hakima Abbas about Africa’s commitment to protecting refugees and his belief that democratic states that tolerate diversity do not experience the conflict that generates the displacement of their citizens. "States must respect the rights of their citizens and their obligations to protect them. Where a refugee or Internally Displaced Persons situation arises as a result of conflict, the country’s political leadership must seek peaceful solutions rather than embark on military strategies. Experience in many conflicts in Africa, such as in Burundi, DRC, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Southern Sudan to mention but a few, shows that military solutions do not succeed. The peace and stability we have seen in these countries is because they have been underpinned by peace agreements rather than outright military victories". November 2007.

Of the population that would be dispossessed or displaced by the Indira Sagar dam on the Godavari river at Polavaram in Andhra Pradesh, the percentage of women far outnumbers that of men. Despite the high proportion of women among those affected, there exists virtually no voice that is representing women's views, whether for or against the project, in all the talk of displacement at Polavaram so far. September 2006.

Debate about terminology has been heightened by the recent assertion of the US Ambassador to the UN that the term ‘IDP’ is “odious terminology” and that the only distinctions between refugees and IDPs are bureaucratic and legal. August 2000 (pdf format)

This paper addresses the issue of whether persons displaced by natural disasters or development projects should be included in global statistics, warning against the "erroneous assertions that those displaced as a result of development projects are excluded from the Guiding Principles". 2005

Internally displaced Palestinians inside Israel are one of the unlucky categories of the
Palestinian refugees as far as registration of status is concerned. The state of Israel has
never recognized the IDPs as a separate sector of the population, nor has Israel
recognized their status as 'refugees' or 'IDPs'. Unlike the majority of Palestinian
refugees who are registered with UNRWA, there is no registration system for internally
displaced Palestinians. Feb 2003 (pdf format)
See also: International Law and Durable Solutions for IDPs, March 2003 (pdf format)